Dear Editor,

Hey, we’re back in town and glad to see our bit of YouTube theatre helped keep the old-growth logging issue from disappearing into the fumes of the asphalt plant.

Also interesting to note that local media haven’t hesitated to parrot the opinion of the logging advocates that our video (see “Whistler Old Growth” on YouTube) is full of “misinformation.”

Yet none of them bothered to contact us for our viewpoint. Hmmm… journalism, is it?

They also quote Mr. Ackhurst as saying he doesn’t know where the $30,000 figure came from as Whistler’s share of the spoils from the logging.

But it was Mr. Ackhurst himself who stated in an article in the Whistler Question (June 16) that Whistler was only going to realize about $20,000 from the logging. Jeez, we thought we were being generous to increase the figure by 50 per cent!

Now we read that Mr. Ackhurst says logging old-growth trees in Whistler will probably continue for another 15 years. (Hey, Whistler kids, how do you feel about that?) So exactly what percentage of local old growth will be cut?

Well, a little birdie tells us the Community Forest folks' are talking about 30 per cent being left. And another little birdie tells us Victoria will be satisfied if 20 per cent old growth is left uncut in the province. Meaning 70-80 per cent of local old growth has been, or will be cut.

What’s the figure in our video? Eighty per cent. Seems we weren’t far from the mark, huh?

But to be fair, Mr. Ackhurst states the forest inventory hasn’t even been completed yet. So the figure could be lower, right? Or it could be higher, right? (Cough.)

Anyway, as we stated in our original letter, we realize this Community Forest issue has been very cleverly constructed (Hello Victoria!) so that everyone can cut 400-year-old trees without feeling guilty:
Victoria says, “Hey, we gave control to the communities. Talk to them.”

The community says, “Yeah, but Victoria gave us this minimal cut requirement, so what can we do?”

The forest contractor says, “Hey, I was just hired to cut trees. If I don’t, they’ll fire me.”

First Nations say, “About time we got a little piece of the action. You’ve been logging our land for years.”

And the chainsaws come out.
But take a walk through a local old-growth forest. (Hell, take a walk through the second-growth they're going to cut at Runaway Train!) How many resorts in the world have this stuff? How many will have it in 50 years? Imagine how much more valuable it will be then... if we don’t cut it now.

Old-growth forests are living jewels — gardens that Nature has been nurturing for hundreds, thousands of years. Some of the plants don’t even start to grow until the forest has been undisturbed for a couple hundred years. And families of animals have been calling these forests home for countless generations.

Then along come we humans with our short-sighted, narrow-minded brains and what do we see when we look at these priceless gardens? Just so many board feet of lumber; a forest that needs to be “man-aged.” (i.e. Destroyed.)
For what? A few bucks. Talk about a legacy for future generations.

There’s a better way. But we’ll only find it when enough people are willing to take a stand.
Oly and the Fat Cats

And Van Clayton Powel

Whistler